Radar conference coming to Turning Stone in April

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Feb 24, 2006 by Duffett, Claire

VERONA - This April, radar experts and scientists from around the country will convene to discuss the technology's latest developments at a conference at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona.

Three sub-committees of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) are organizing the event - the group's aerospace and electronic systems society (AESS) and its Mohawk Valley and Syracuse chapters - explains Scott Stumpf, an information and technology employee with Onondaga County and publicity chair of the conference committee.

The seminar, with the theme "Radar... Our Sight into a Spectrum of Information," will be held April 24 to 27. Organizers are hoping to attract about 250 to 300 participants, Stumpf says.

The event kicks off Monday, April 24 at 6 p.m. with a lecture intended to provide less-experienced attendees with a fundamental understanding of radar so they can appreciate the more advanced topics to be presented at the conference. The presenter is Robert Hill, a retired electrical engineer with the U.S. Navy Department.

Although the group has yet to determine its Tuesday schedule, the seminars are currently, slated to last from 6 until 10 p.m. on Wednesday evening, and conclude with an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule on Thursday, April 27.

Other presenters include out-of-town professionals like doctors James Ward and Stephen Kogan of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory and advance-sensor techniques group; as well as local experts such as Pramod K Varshney, an adjunct radiology professor at State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.

The event costs $435 for IEEE members and $510 for non-members who register before Feb. 24. After that date, the price increases to $510 and $585, respectively.

Intended as an incentive, college students and retired IEEE members pay $70.

The cost of the event covers food and the main lectures but not travel or hotel expenses, Stumpf explains.

Most attendees will be engineers interested in various disciplines including microwave theory, antennas and propagation, and discreet components and electronics, Stumpf says.

In addition to the main lectures, the event will also include separate, pay-as-you-go tutorials that are not covered by the general-event cost. These lectures cost $120 apiece before Feb. 24, $150 apiece after that date.

Stumpf, who is active with IEEE's Syracuse section, joined the group shortly after graduating from North Carolina State University. He says professionals in engineering and technical industries participate in the organization in order to network and stay current with the latest advancements.

Stumpf and his fellow planners began lobbying to host IEEE's annual radar conference in the Mohawk Valley in 2003, he says. The group competed for the 2006 conference against a chapter in Boston, which will host it next year, Stumpf explains. In past years, IEEE member groups in Washington, D.C.; Huntsville, Ala.; Long Beach, Calif; and Philadelphia have hosted the event, he says.

Before Stumpf and his fellow organizers requested funding from AESS, they secured letters of recommendation to host the conference from representatives of Syracuse University's College of Engineering & Computer Science; Lockheed Martin Corp.; and the Air Force Research Laboratory Directorate, Stumpf says.

The proposal to AESS also included a financial analysis of the event's cost, a budget, and a speculative attendee count, he says. The Syracuse and Mohawk Valley chapters submitted their proposal to the AESS in 2004.